Sweet Freedom
by Falcon Horus
Summary: Someone's in trouble. If you want to know who, read the story!
1. Freedom I

Title: Sweet Freedom 

Author: Falcon Horus

Category: action, humor, ...

Rating: Teens (or whatever the equivalent is these days to PG-13)

Summary: Someone's in trouble.

Disclaimer: Firefly or Serenity ain't mine and will never be mine…too bad though…BUT storyline and characters, all invented by my wonderful muse Kate, are all mine

Author's notes: Thanks to my best friends I got hooked to this wonderful show called Firefly, so I guess it's only natural that I dedicate this first fic to them for introducing me into the world of Browncoats, Shindigs and one cute mechanic.

Mistakes are all mine, if you find any, let me know so I can get rid of them…

Source I used for the Chinese...if you want to know I'll email it cause fanfiction won't let me post the links...

Ohyeah, one more thing I don't write chapters, I just post what I have so far and go from there…they're just parts of the whole thing….

xxxxx

o Alliance Prison o

The silence hit her like a ton of bricks. It was as if she were all alone in a very large room. She jumped as the door behind her shut with a loud clang and shuddered as she could hear a heavy lock being put in place. Heavy footsteps disappeared in the distance, while whispering sounds and hushed voices reached out to her. She took a few careful steps away from the door, squinting against the light coming from above. As she looked up to see where the light came from she noticed a couple of floating lights close by the ceiling, shedding little light here and there. A few more steps and she found herself in the middle of one of the light beams. It was like she was standing in a spotlight with everybody looking at her, waiting for something to happen or for her to speak.

She glanced around, letting her guard down, to take in the surroundings she could see from where she stood. Before her brain could register what was going on, though, she was violently shuffled back against the door, pain registering the moment she came in contact with the hard metal. She gasped for air, struggling against the tight grip of one strong hand, holding her a nice 2 feet above ground.

"Well, well ... look what the guards left us this time?" The woman holding her was well fed and certainly not one to trifle with. She had pitch black hair and dark brown eyes were staring viciously at her. She needed air and she needed it fast. The giant brought her face closer to the trapped one, grinning but bursting into an evil laughter as she noticed the fear clearly present in a pair of big dark eyes. To the woman's satisfaction those eyes were watering up pretty quickly.

"BG ... found someone new to play with?" In a blur of tears the trapped inmate could distinguish a tall and slender figure behind the large woman.

"This ain't your business!" A low growl escaped the woman's throat, alerting the slender figure to BG's gang, who had gathered around her. "Keep walking, Freedom! Or I'll have my gang teach you a lesson or two."

"Well, you ain't gonna be playing long, I reckon. You're killing her." Freedom stated matter-of-factly while assessing the situation. At that moment the larger woman loosened her grip, dropping the semi-conscious newbie unceremoniously to the ground. She turned around, coming at once face to face with Freedom, who hadn't moved an inch.

"Then maybe you and I can play a little game." A fist came flying towards her face so fast, Freedom was barely in time to duck out of its way. She rolled away from her attacker, ending strategically behind BG. She gave her a swift kick in the back, making her stumble and biting the dust.

"Are we done playing?" Freedom knew better than to go nearer to where BG was boiling on the ground. "Because I have a newbie to look after."

"I swear, one day you won't be talking big no more!" BG got up and spat at Freedom, who returned the anger with a sweet little smile before turning back to the matters at hand.

In a haze of tears and pain, she saw the slender figure closing in on her position against the door. Her oxygen deprived brains were fighting for air, while all she wanted was to curl up in a ball and disappear. She was scared, in fact she had never been this scared before. She coughed, pain shooting through her almost strangled throat.

"Hey you!" Freedom leveled herself with the huddled being on the floor, careful not to spook her too much. She gave the newbie a once over and knew she would need some help to get her to a fairly safe place. Freedom looked around and found a familiar face she knew she could trust not too far away. "Firefly!" A young girl no older than 16 quickly jumped up and came jogging down to her position. "Find Viper for me, will ya!" The youngster nodded and immediately disappeared, to return few seconds later followed by an older woman with a large tattoo of a viper on her upper left arm.

"What ya got, Freedom?" She bend over to get a closer look to what her buddy was looking at. "BG did this?"

"Yeah, come on, help me get her to our bunk." They picked the new inmate off the floor, hearing her moan in pain.

"Let me handle this!" Viper scooped the young one up in her arms. "This'll go faster." Freedom nodded and led the way towards their bunk, making sure they weren't followed by any of BG's thugs.

xxxxx

o TBC o


	2. Freedom II

o Serenity o

The back door of the ship was opened in a very inviting way if it weren't for one Companion pacing up and down in front of it. She had taken her shuttle for a little flight to the other side of the moon they had landed on, where she had met a charming young man. Inara knew she would be the last one back on board before they would leave again, only that seemed to be the problem right now. The away team hadn't returned as of yet and at that they were over two hours late already. She stopped to look for any sign they were returning but nothing appeared on the horizon and while praying they were safe she continued her pacing.

The moment she heard the gunshots she knew something had gone wrong. Not that many of the Captain's transactions went right ever, but this time a very unsettling feeling started to creep up her spine. She could distinguish the cloud of dust that accompanied the small group of riders and quickly informed the pilot to start up the engines so they could leave this moon, in a hurry if that were the case.

Captain Malcolm Reynolds jumped of the horse he was riding and hurried inside his ship, closely followed by his companions. They were sweating and breathing heavily as if they had just ran the 100 meters in record time. The Captain turned at the door as he noticed it going up, quickly telling Wash they were on and could leave the gorram moon. Satisfied the ship was moving he turned towards the stairs but froze as he suddenly noticed he was one member short then when they had left earlier. They had left as a 5-man team not a 4-one.

"Kaylee?" Malcolm turned back to the door and hailed Wash to turn back and land again.

"_Captain?"_ Wash's obvious confusion was audible in his voice.

"Jayne, where's Kaylee?" The man spoken to blinked as he remembered he had been paired off with the ship's mechanic.

"She was right behind me." His voice took on a defensive tone. They weren't going to blame him for leaving Kaylee to the mercy of those that had ambushed them during their attempt of fair trade.

"Behind you?" Zoe glanced back and forth between her Captain and the crook, they had picked up during one of their trades gone wrong. "She should have been in front of you!" Zoe noticed how much self-control it took for Mal to be as contained as he looked, though she knew he could explode any second now.

"Sir, it's too late to go back. Who ever those men were, they will have caught her by now." Zoe tried to reason with the Captain, although she knew it would probably be a lost cause anyway. "Captain, we might still find her if we leave now."

"Zoe, I'm not leaving little Kaylee behind on this gorram piece of rock!"

"Captain, I think Zoe is right. We should leave now and come back later to look for trails. They might still be out there." Shepherd Book stepped up next to Zoe. "I am sure they won't hurt Kaylee."

"If they came by ship, we can follow them."

"Wash!" The proverbial light bulb had definitely sprung to life inside Malcolm's head as he called the pilot over the intercom. "See any ships on the radar?"

"_Err... A small fighter-class one on the other side of the planet. They're in a hurry."_

"Follow them!"

"_What?"_

"Just do it! I'll explain later." Malcolm turned around and bumped into Inara, who hadn't yet said a word and had been standing in the shadows, not wanting them to know she had been there in the first place.

"Why don't you explain right now?" Inara's eyes locked with Malcolm's, who felt himself shrink at least 5 inches under her stare.

"If this ship is indeed the one that brought those gorram hwoon dahn, then maybe they'll lead us to wherever they're taking my mechanic."

"And you are sure they took Kaylee?" Inara let her gaze drift and noticed Zoe had changed position, closer towards them.

"Not a 100 percent, if that's what you're asking." Zoe stated out loud. "But it's our best shot."

"If anything happens to Kaylee, I will hold you ... and only you responsible for it." The Companion turned away, not giving Mal or Zoe the chance to reply. She disappeared in her shuttle and slammed the door shut, at least as far as that slamming was even possible. But, no matter how much noise she would make out of anger, she knew Mal had gotten the message pretty clearly. They wouldn't be seeing her any time soon, which was probably the best if they didn't want to end up in the onboard Doctor's care.

xxxxx

o TBC o


	3. Freedom III

o Alliance Prison o

Soft whispering, distant footsteps and clattering of utensils, soft murmuring close by ... it sounded so familiar and yet so foreign. She was lying flat on something hard, something that wasn't anything like her familiar bed in her bunk on Serenity. And there was pain, sore muscles and definitely bruising. Slowly she opened her eyes, getting a first look at her surroundings. She was lying in someone else's bed as she noticed a name carved in the wooden planks of the top bunk. Freedom... that one rang a bell. Next in her line of sight was a blond head resting against the wooden post of the bed, which turned as soon as she moved and hissed in pain.

"Hey, you're awake?" A pair of crystal blue eyes looked at her intriguingly, a smile playing around the girl's lips. "I'm Teaser." A hand came flying her way for a good shake, which only caused more pain. "Freedom will be back soon."

"Morning Teaser!" The blonde girl turned to the door of their room and produced a large grin.

"Well, speak of the devil!"

"Morning!" Freedom settled herself on the floor and picked two protein/vitamin-bars out of her pocket. "Here you go, you two." She handed each a bar and started nibbling on her own. "Where are the others?"

"Shorty and Flash have gone for a walk. I think they're spying on BG's gang again. Viper went looking for Firefly. The kid had some information to share about you-know-what." Teaser ended her breakfast and then glanced longingly at the door. "Can I go now?"

"Go find Shorty and Flash!" Teaser quickly made her way out. "And don't go gettin' into any trouble!" It was more an after thought as the youngster had long disappeared out of sight and hearing range for that matter. "So, it's just you and me then... Oh well, it gives me a chance to explain the ropes around here." Freedom took a deep breath ready to start her monologue. "As you've already guessed you're in an Alliance prison. You're on a ship which cannot be traced by outsiders so don't go getting' your hopes up too much of being found or rescued any time soon. If you want to get out of here, you'll have to do it yourself but I'll get back to that later on. Okay, then... Next up, your name... You see no one in this prison knows each other's real name nor what they are in for. I don't need to know why you are in for, nor will I reveal what I have done to deserve a bunk in this place. If we ever regain our freedom, whether that be dead or alive, we will be allowed to reveal our true names. And as you need one as well, I have the perfect name sought out for you... From this day forth until the day you regain your freedom, you will be known as Spirit." Freedom smiled, while continuing her speech. "Okay, what else? ... Oh yeah, you are a part of my gang now, which means you have my protection whenever you might get into some sort of trouble. You've already met BG so I don't have to tell you to keep out of her way. There are four other members in this gang. You have already met Teaser, the youngest of our bunch. I don't know if you remember but yesterday you briefly met Viper ... before passing out that is. She's the oldest of the gang, yet not the leader. Last but not least there's the twin, Shorty and Flash. They're in their early twenties and sometimes living a bit on the dangerous side of life. But then again, we are in jail... There's one more, who isn't yet a member but might soon be one... Firefly." Freedom noticed when mentioning Firefly a strange twinkle appeared in Spirit's eyes, although disappearing as fast as it had appeared. "She can be trusted but I think it's best to be cautious around her. Since she doesn't really belong to anyone she can still betray you."

"Ni hao Freedom!" They turned to the door, to find two identical-looking young women grinning from ear to ear. "How's business?"

"What have you two been up to?" Freedom shot the two a very curious look. "And where's Teaser?"

"I'm right here." The blonde head of the young girl popped from behind the doorframe, an even larger grin plastered on her face. She immediately entered the room, with a small bag folded under her arm, which she dropped into Freedom's lap.

"What's this?" She curiously opened the bag to find a small memory-device inside, a large grin started to spread over her features, mimicking the faces of her three gang-members. "Where did you get this?"

"We borrowed it." Shorty's grin became even bigger. "BG wants it back as soon as possible, I reckon."

"She's planning on leaving this dump, we think. Maybe we can use her as a decoy while we make our escape."

"Flash!" Freedom hissed, while Flash shrunk under her stare. "Don't need nobody to know what we're up to. Dong-ma?" The rest of the gang nodded quickly, not wanting Freedom to be mad with them.

xxxxx

o TBC o

Reviews are always nice…as is constructive criticism so don't be afraid to tell me what you really think


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